Contact: Ben Kolada, Thejeswi Venkatesh
Adding to its power management product portfolio, semiconductor giant Qualcomm announced on Monday the acquisition of Summit Microelectronics, a designer of programmable power management and battery-charging semiconductors. The deal is meant to help Qualcomm further target increasing demand for battery management on smart devices.
Neither Qualcomm nor Summit disclosed terms of the transaction, but in March Summit issued a press release claiming that it hit record revenue and profits in 2011, and that fourth-quarter 2011 revenue doubled from the prior-year period. However, that alone shouldn’t impress too much. The company had to raise several rounds of funding throughout its 15-year lifetime to bring its products to market. While most venture-backed companies typically continue to fundraise only through to maybe a fourth, or D, round, Summit’s messy fundraising history continued at least through to an H round.
The acquisition is yet another step in feeding the demand for managing power on an ever-evolving group of power-intensive devices. As consumer electronics continue to advance, particularly in regard to HPC capabilities and high-resolution screens, battery management is becoming increasingly critical. In announcing the deal, Qualcomm points directly at this demand, noting that Summit’s chips are found in a variety of mobile phones, tablets and e-readers.